How disappointing........!!!


I was shocked and disappointed.


I agree with all these items:

?• Have quarterly town halls to listen to residents and their needs.

?• No longer hold secret meetings.

?• Use electronic newsletters and have newsletters at mailcenters to save us money

?• Tape record ALL meetings with a quorum.

?• Fight to stop the toll plan today!

?• Vote in a new president and vice president from the current 6 members that MOST represent the people of Circle C.

?• Replace Jim O'Reilly since he does not show up for meetings. IMPORTANT: Tell them to replace Jim O'Rielly with someone that has ALREADY VOLUNTEERED THEIR SERVICE.

Re: CCHOA Secret meeting

Dear Mr. Costello,

Please remove me from your email list.

While I agree that the Mopac toll is unfair and should not be foisted upon us and I thank you for your efforts thus far, this issue seems to have become too personal for you to remain objective. Perhaps you were hurt that you were not included in, or told about, the ''secret'' lunch meeting between the CAMPO and Circle C Board of Directors members. But, for whatever reason, with this latest email you have disseminated what I think you yourself would dislike: unbalanced, inflammatory, biased, and, above all, unfounded information. Your selection of excerpts from the Oakhill Gazette and keathmilligan.net (where you failed to include the update at the bottom) bear that out. And I would like to know if you spoke with Mr. Fennessy about your concerns before you sent your email out. Have you ever gone to one of the board meetings and brought your concerns up for discussion? For someone who personally worked as hard as you did to get him and other new board members elected, it seems like you would give them a chance to address those concerns before you publicly condemn them. Ironically, were Mr. Fennessy ''focused on only one issue, the school'', we wouldn't even be having this dialogue. Fact is, the BOD have taken an official position against the toll plan (see http://www.circlecranch.com/pdf_files/CAMPO Position.pdf) and attended and even spoke out against it at the CAMPO meeting. The fundamental difference today is that the CAMPO vote is over and it is up to grassroots efforts like yours to try and change the outcome. The school issue, on the other hand, is still up for a vote and needs the full attention of the board to help it pass. What you and your fellow volunteers have proudly accomplished is to draw some much needed attention to the wrongfulness of the MoPac toll plan. So it?’s also quite ironic that this lunch with the mayor and other CAMPO members would never have happened were it not for your groups?’ efforts to keep this problem in the spotlight! As I understand from speaking to Mr. Fennessy, this was an informal lunch (at a CAMPO members request, not that that matters) to lay the ground work for cooperation and to open the lines of communication with community leaders. From what I can see, no deals were done. No alliances were formed. Surely you can't expect EVERY lunch, phone conversation and the like to be advertised for general attendance or to be recorded. But now, unsubstantiated remarks like yours, I fear, threaten to shut down those lines of communication. At a time when we should be trying to foster these positive efforts by our new board, why on Earth would you try to destroy that? I hope a lust for controversy and your own personal feelings, Mr. Costello, don't turn those who are on your side against you and undo what you and your volunteers have dutifully accomplished thus far.



Sincerely,



Cary D. Douglass, MD
cdoug512@hotmail.com
Circle C resident

Cary: Good friend Quentin's

Cary,

Your email is removed. I know you are a good friend Quentins.

Tell your friend to represent the people. That is why the people, including myself, voted him in, so he would represent us. He has not done so. I have been to 3-4 of the board meetings. I am tired of hearing about how these issues effect him and his family when he speaks. It's about others, not him. Our hard work put him there, it'll be easy to take it away if he keeps acting like he is on a thrown. Every 1 of the 7 was voted in equally. And just because we got them get elected, does not mean they get a free pass to ignore their responsibilities.

I stand by everything I said in that email above. Sorry you don't agree with the bullet points I suggest - they might give Q some insight about his neighborhood and what people really want. Quentin and the other board members should not step up to fight against a toll plan if they even consider accepting a ''deal'' and laying down. One of the board members told me on the phone that he thought 2 years from now would be a ''win'' and help. How in the hell can that help?

Were you there in the secret meeting? Did you hear what was said?

FYI: I know it was a ''secret'' meeting because three of the board members told me so. The hyperlink you sent - the boards position of NIMBY is a weak position that has been ignored by our elected?  officials and discounted immediately for months in the media.

If the CCHOA can join other neighborhoods to get a school, then why not join other neighborhoods and fight the toll plan? That's right, Q likes the plan. Q thinks it is smart to create a new tax that will cost the equivalent to about $3.00 - $10.00 a gallon (.15 a mile x 20mpg, .50 a mile x 20mpg), while the gas tax has not been increased per inflation or cost of living since 1991. No other city in the world has shifted their daily commute highways to toll roads. It's never been done. I have sent all this information and more to my board over the last few months and they either ignore it or don't read it.

Simply put, the Mayor's meeting was set up to undermine PET PAC's success and to cut a half assed deal with board members that have not represented their neighbors in a strong or timely fashion. The people on ''my side'' are there for a reason. I hear them. I act for them, not for myself. Hell, I don't even drive to work over that bridge, I work from home. And, after hearing about a half dozen people asking why we have signs all over CC for the school and why we NEVER had anything for the toll roads, I have stepped in to act. It's about principle, not being taxed to death and standing up for my community when others have failed to do so.

Your friend is wrong. He's not cut out to lead and he's NOT represented the people. And Q, don't be a coward, sign ''President'' on your future mass emails to Circle C (Interesting how you don't want?  CCHOA to send out newsletters via email to save us thousands of dollars a year, but, you sure don't have a problem using the list I gave you).

Sal Costello

Thank you

Mr. Costello,
Thank you. I don't think I could have proved my point any better than you have just done.